Cake Among Friends
by KatLeePT
Summary: The ponies find out why Pinkie Pie has trouble with cake, or one author's reason for why Pinkie Pie tends to gobble down every cake in sight.


She lays on the floor, writhing in pain, as her friends look on in disbelief. Twilight is the first to shake her head at her behavior. "I don't believe you ate all of those cakes!"

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash is quick to agree. "You didn't even leave a bite for me!"

"Or for anypony else," Fluttershy quietly adds.

"But it was just _so_ good," Pinkie groans, remembering how sweet and delectable the towering cakes had been. Her taste buds were still rocking from them, and she quickly stuck out her long tongue and used it to make sure she had every single bite of pastry off of her face. "Mmm mmm! Good to the last drop!"

"We wouldn't know," Dash mutters, clearly agitated.

"The least ya coulda done, Pinkie, was to save something for the children. Apple Bloom didn't even get a bite! And if you were going to eat them all, sugar cube, don't complain about having a tummy ache now!"

"Yeah! Nobody made you eat my piece!"

"Rainbow Dash, honestly, this isn't just about you, or about Pinkie's desire to eat every cake she sees. The bride didn't even get a bite of her own wedding cake!" Rarity points out. "They will remember this wedding forever not because of how beautiful their attire was but because of how Pinkie Pie ruined everything!"

Pinkie rolls over and lowers her face. Her friends do have a point. Even Fluttershy's complaining of how she ate everything, and it truly isn't fair that the bride and groom didn't get a bite of their own wedding cake. But they just don't understand. No one does. Hanging her head in shame, she quietly leaves the party.

Her friends stand looking at each other. "Oh dear," Fluttershy is the first to speak.

"Serves her right," Dash snorts. "Eating everybody else's cake!"

"But she was really upset," Apple Jack remarks.

"How do you know that wasn't just stomach hurting?"

"Didn't you see the look in her eyes, Rainbow Dash?"

"Of course she didn't," Twilight speaks for her. "We were all too busy bickering."

"I think we really hurt her feelings."

As the ponies talk, however, one, little pegasus has already left the party, flying after her friend. She soon catches her. "Pinkie Pie," Fluttershy says, "I'm sorry. We all are. We didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"You guys were right," Pinkie says, her whole body seemingly slumped. She's staring out over the lake and doesn't raise her head to look at her friend.

Fluttershy doesn't need to see her face, however, to know she's crying. She slips up beside her and puts an arm around her shoulders. "Why'd you eat all the cake, Pinkie? You had to know ponies were going to be upset."

"I didn't think about that," Pinkie answers honestly. "I just . . . All those cakes were so pretty, Fluttershy, and they all tasted so good! I couldn't help myself!"

Other ponies would have interrupted the little horse then, thinking she was kidding or telling her she was wrong, but Fluttershy just sat and waited, her arm still draped comfortingly around Pinkie's lithe shoulders. "I grew up on a rock farm."

"I know," Fluttershy spoke quietly when Pinkie paused. "It was a pretty horrible place, wasn't it?" She feels the shudder that runs through Pinkie Pie's body.

"Yeah. Totally! There was no color and nothing tasted good and no fun! It was horrible! Everything was gray and dull! We only had rocks to eat, rocks to play with, rocks and each other to talk to. There were no other ponies. No sugar. No nothing. Just rocks. Rocks, rocks, and more rocks!" Another tear trails down Pinkie's nose and drips into the water.

Fluttershy hears approaching hooves and looks back over her shoulder. She shushes their friends before they can distract Pinkie.

"I never even tasted anything that tasted good until I got away from that rock farm! Even when I started throwing parties, there was no good food, just rocks. But when I came away from there, . . . Fluttershy, I never knew the world could be so pretty! I never even guessed there were so many more colors than gray, pink, and white, but there are! There's even color of the rainbow and then some!"

"Those cakes were pretty colorful," Fluttershy commented, returning her attention to Pinkie as the other ponies snuck up behind them.

"Yeah. They were beautiful, so beautiful I couldn't resist them, and when I tasted them, it was like WOW! major party time in my mouth! I really just wanted to try a little of each one, but when I got a bite, I couldn't stop! I never can! I don't mean to be a glutton, but there's just something about beautiful cakes and sweet pies and creamy pastries and sugary chocolates and just every sweet in the world and every color! It's all so bright and good and sweet that I really can't help myself! I want more of it, and when I get more of it, I want more still and more still and more still and more still and more still and more still until, suddenly, there's nothing left!" She wails.

She continues as Fluttershy gently rubs her shoulders. "I never meant to eat it all! I never do! But I guess there's kinda still something in me from that little pony that grew up on the rock farm and never had any fun or any friends or any sweets or any colors. I guess, maybe, I'm kinda still afraid that I'm gonna find myself back on that rock farm and there will be no colors or sweets or fun or you guys or anything else good again! It'll just be the rocks and the gray and the drab, and I'll be stuck there forever!"

"Oh, Pinkie!" Fluttershy hugs her tightly, and then their friends descend upon them, each joining their hug until it has become a huge, tight group hug.

"Why didn't you just tell us, sugar cube?" Apple Jack asks, looking at Pinkie after they've separated.

"I couldn't. You wouldn't understand."

"You're right, of course," Fluttershy says, her wings moving a little in the breeze. "None of us can really understand what you went through, Pinkie, because none of us have ever been in a world that had no color or sweetness. We've all been lucky to be able to see all the colors Nature has to offer. You know, there's an animal of every color, and a few birds that have every color in their feathers."

"Forget the animals," Dash retorts. "Pinkie, you should've told us."

"I'm sorry I ate your piece of cake."

"Cake doesn't matter," the rainbow-colored pegasus says, shaking her mane, "not where friends are concerned."

"But Dash is right, Pinkie. You should have told us," Twilight persists. "We're your friends. You can share anything with us."

"Yeah," she mumbles. "Like I shared the cake."

"We all have our problems sharing sometimes, darling," Rarity speaks, "but the important thing is that we overcome them and we stay friends regardless."

"No one's going to throw away our friendship, or you, because of cake. Not even me," Dash adds.

"We can help you keep so much cake from adding unsightly pounds, Pinkie."

"I'm not worried about pounds, Rarity! I just don't want to hurt anypony's feelings because of eating all the cakes again!"

"We can help you on that, too, sugar cube, but more importantly, we're not going to let you go back to that rock farm ever again."

"Really?"

"You betcha!" Dash grabs her and ruffles her mane with a hoof. "No one's going to take our Pinkie Pie away!"

She grins. "Tell me again," she pleads. "I don't ever want to have to be without color or sugar or friends again!"

"You won't be."

"We promise." Apple Jack hugs her, but Pinkie quickly bounces out of the hug.

"There's still so much I want to do!" she cries. "I want to eat more cake and have more parties and have more fun and make more new friends and spend more time with all of my friends and party and have fun and eat cake and ice cream, too! And I wanna see those animals you were telling us about, Fluttershy! I want to see the birds and the animals of every color! I wonder if I have seen all the colors? What do you guys think? Do you think maybe there's more colors out there that we just haven't seen yet? What if we take purple and blue and mix them together? Or orange? Or red? Or yellow? Or silver? Or - Or - Or - "

Her friends laugh as they watch Pinkie Pie literally bouncing up and down with her enthusiasm. "She's baaaaaaaaaaaack," Rainbow Dash whispers.

"That's our Pinkie Pie." Twilight smiles fondly.

"We wouldn't have her any other way, would we, girls?"

"Of course not. I'm just glad she's happy."

"Although she could stand to lose a few pounds. We all could."

"Rarity!"

"Well, we could except for yours truly, of course. I'm already fabulous."

"We all are," Twilight says as Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes, "just the way we are."

The End


End file.
